Experiments In Time
by TwoPathsinaWood
Summary: Nudge just wanted to be an ordinary girl. No wings, no freakish powers, no crazy scientists chasing after her. But, as it turns out, normal just isn't who she was meant to be. A chance encounter with a madman in a blue box throws her into worlds she never knew possible. But, at the end of the day, Nudge has a choice to make. She must decide just how far she will go to be normal.
1. Chapter 1: TARDIS Miseries

**Okay guys. So here's a shot in the dark. I don't really see many crossovers with Doctor Who and Maximum Ride, although it is a fantastic idea. They flow well together. I will admit I haven't read any of the Patterson books in quite a while, so the timing may be a little off. I am aiming for it to be after the Flock runs from Anne and before Disney. With the Doctor, well, you'll see soon enough. Ciao!**

Doctor's POV

"I'll show her," the man in the long, brown trench coat muttered angrily as he pulled a lever and flicked a switch. An eerie wobbly noise echoed around him, almost obscuring his muttered, "I don't need anyone- least of all her. I can manage well enough on my own."

He punched one final button. The engines revved to life, leaving Donna and her idiocy far behind him. Why had he wanted to be ginger again? Only a ginger human would ever be stubborn enough- scratch that, stupid enough- to give up the once-in-a-lifetime chance of traveling throughout all of time and space.

The wheezing of his old machine soothed him, calming his raging fury, but in its place was something far worse. Something he, the Doctor, had been running from for a long, long time.

"Please, just take me somewhere good, Old Girl." He needed to burrow into the excitement, curiosity, anticipation of an adventure. He craved the taste of danger, the mind-numbing adrenaline.

The Tardis shuddered as she landed, golden light flaring up her central column in a vivid display. But the Doctor didn't see it. He'd half-turned to call out for Rose, only to remember that Rose Tyler was no longer there.

Never again would he see her face light up with excitement, eyes wide with expectation and laugh sparkling with wonder. She'd finally gone somewhere he couldn't follow- a whole other universe.

The Doctor kicked his console testily, muttering oaths beneath his breath. Five billion languages and he still didn't quite have the capacity to express what he was feeling, what he always felt.

It was like, like he'd entered a vacuum forged of blood and sacrifice, and the absence of everything, everyone, was crushing him from the inside out because he'd been wrong after all. Or, maybe, it was more like he was staring up at a mudslide and all of the things he had pushed way up high on the mountain, so far away from him, were finally returning for retribution.

Whatever the case, the feeling tumbled into one looping thought, relentlessly pounding against his psyche; _I am alone_.

A surge of anger boiled in the back of his mind, belonging to the one being that had stuck with him through it all.

"Sorry, Old Girl." He stroked the console where he'd maimed her earlier, although he knew that wasn't what she was actually angry about.

In the process of apologizing, he somehow ended up on his knees, staring into the complex copper wiring beneath the console. There were a few bits that needed to be redone, he noted absently. And a few that were completely unnecessary. And a few that he definitely no longer knew the function of.

_Maybe that is what I am. Unnecessary, overused, outdated wiring. Maybe it is finally time, after so many years; maybe I should…_

"_HELP!" _the word invaded his mind with enough force to turn any lesser brain to mush. It hurt, hurt so very badly. It had been millennia since he had experienced such an invasion and he was entirely unprepared for it. The foreign entity's panic was like a bowling ball, hurtling straight through his defenses without a care in the world for the damage.

He blinked tears away as he struggled to wrestle the energy from the entity into a manageable space of his mind. He tried to be gentle, although this invader had been anything but. Whoever it was, whatever it was, they were clearly terrified and any unnecessary force would only scare them further.

_Are you okay? _He sent the thought tentatively down the psychic link. He knew it reached its destination only because of the painful withdraw that ensued. A grimace creased his rather young face as the retreat jarred a few other, far more tender parts of his mind. Head throbbing, he grabbed hold of the small link still wavering in his vision. "OW!" he cursed, pushing to his feet so he could pace angrily.

"A bloody brick wall! Who even uses those anymore? Rude!" He grabbed his head, slender fingers raking through what little hair they could. Still not as long as he wished it would be, but long didn't suit this face. "What do I know?" he smacked the side of his head because he couldn't- wouldn't- smack his machine again. "What. Do. I. Know?"

_Not many people can invade my mind_.

That was not the line of thought he wanted to pursue. Not right now.

But it kept coming back, niggling through the chaos that cluttered the squishy grey matter encased in his skull.

_What if… What if they were… _

"Not possible. It can't be possible. I was there. Everyone died. I would have felt it if…"

Despite his protestation, the little bit of light gleaming in his chest threatened to beat his hearts clear from it. He _could_ shove that hope down, but, if he did, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done.

He had to find them.

Regardless of whether he was right or wrong, there was someone out there- a child if he wasn't mistaken- that was extremely vulnerable and extremely scared.

And he didn't stand by- couldn't stand by (not when it was a child; not when it was anyone really, but especially, _especially_ not a child).

The Doctor raced to his console, begging his machine to steer him where he wanted to go for once in this life. His long fingers pressed buttons, typed codes, gave the mechanics a whirl, and…

The humming of the Tardis made him beam up at his oldest living friend. Perhaps she was a bit reluctant, but his Old Girl was finally chugging into motion.

He couldn't back out now- not that he would have. The thought of running had been a mere blip in his mind, discarded the minute it was conceived. He would go, regardless of how much heartbreak it would cause when he was wrong (because how could he possibly be right?).

At least he'd help someone, anyone; at least he'd have purpose once more.

Because that was his purpose, wasn't it? He was the Doctor, and he would always save the day.

**So this was a pretty short little blurb. I hope you all enjoyed. If there are any ideas, thoughts, comments I'd love to hear them.**


	2. Chapter 2: Death by Glitter

**And chapter two is up and running. The story continues.**

**Narrator POV**

Approximately 7132 miles away from the Doctor, a flock of six birds rapidly descended towards the ground. Well, perhaps not birds. They were far too large to be birds. A better hypothesis would be pterodactyls or aliens or military technology gone wrong.

But none of these were quite close to the truth.

They were just five kids with wings accompanied by their talking dog, Total, whose mouth was uncharacteristically shut. Actually, all of them were silent, faces set into expressions more suited for soldiers in the midst of war. Soldiers who were preparing to face an oncoming storm.

Faces that young should never look so grim, so resigned to the cruelty of the world.

If they had been on the street instead of the sky, any proper adult would have stopped them, made sure everything was okay. Although that was, in itself, a very stupid question because obviously nothing would be okay ever again.

Not when their sister, Nudge, was being taken from them.

Although Max, the leader of their ragtag band of misfits, hadn't said as much, they all knew their sister was dying. An impossibility that not a single one of them would ever be quite ready to face.

Max landed first, immediately barking orders for someone to lay a jacket down on the muddy ground. Her voice was just a little too high-pitched, her eyes just a little too watery for her to be considered calm.

"You're okay, Nudge," the words slipped from Max's tongue like a prayer. She shifted the flailing child (who was almost the same size as her), trying as best she could to keep Nudge contained in her arms.

Physically, Nudge was okay. Max had searched for any serious wounds on the way down (because how could there not be when the kid had crumpled so fast?), but there simply weren't any. A few cuts and bruises maybe, but that was to be expected when a dozen heaping piles of metal came flying at you out of the middle of nowhere.

So what was wrong with her? Why was she convulsing?

Max had reached a conclusion somewhere on the way down, but she didn't want to give voice to it. She didn't know many things that could cause convulsions, except if… if the damage were internal. Whether it was a brain injury, a ruptured spleen, or her appendix, something important had busted and it wouldn't be long before…

There was no time to get her to a hospital, not that Max had even considered it. After Fang's disaster, she would _never_ endanger her family like that again. They could try to operate themselves, but they didn't know what was wrong. They might end up killing her themselves from inexperience.

All they could do was hope it wasn't as bad as it looked.

Some leader she was. So freaking useless!

Max swallowed hard, fighting the urge to murmur more reassurances to Nudge. Even the thought of those whispered lies was enough to stir the sleeping ghosts that haunted her.

Angel, the youngest of the Flock, interrupted Max's thoughts as she tottered over with her weight in jackets. The sight of a fluffy pink coat shoved between Iggy's dusty green hoodie and Fang's black jacket lifted a little of the weight off Max's shoulders.

As Angel began spreading the jackets out for Nudge to lay on, Max scowled, "Gazzy!" Angel paused, looking up in askance about her brother. "Put your shirt back on. The last thing we need is for you to get pneumonia right now."

A carbon copy of Angel in boy form bounded over and took the shirt from his sister, slipping it over his head in one clean motion. He almost looked like a kicked puppy the way he pouted, but Max had bigger things to worry about.

She knelt and gently placed Nudge on the ground, disregarding the damp soaking her own jeans.

"Seizures, seizures…" Max muttered as she tried to recall the correct protocol for them.

"Keep Nudge's head from banging anything," was the first comment courtesy of Angel. Although she spoke with hushed sweetness, there was unadulterated terror in Angel's quivering frame.

Max didn't notice. She was too focused on Angel's useless advice. There was nothing for Nudge to bang her head against! They were in the middle of a vacant muddy _field _for goodness sake.

"What about a rag?" Gazzy bounced on the balls of his feet, trying to be helpful and strong at the same time. He couldn't cry or freak out. He had to be strong. "Do we need to put it in her mouth or something?"

Iggy shook his head, "No. I heard something on TV that said you aren't supposed to-"

Iggy's voice was lost to a cluster of gasps as Nudge's shuddering abruptly stopped. While that usually would have been a good thing, the floating, golden mist that trickled from Nudge's lips only brought more horror.

"Nudge is breathing steadily. What happened?" Iggy's annoyance was palpable because, just as he figured, no one responded.

The rest of the Flock just stared at the golden mist, afraid to move. Gazzy's voice broke the silence, hushed and practically whimpering, "Is that her soul?"

The alarm of the young boy's words was nothing compared to the stark fear blazing in Max's usually stubborn eyes. "No. Like Iggy said, she's still breathing. Must've been some sort of new weapon; causes seizures and then paralysis. She'll be fine," Max's scoff was fairly weak, but it eased her other charges' fears, at least minutely.

Indeed, Nudge was still breathing, even as the small strand gradually turned into a violent eruption of a thousand golden fireworks radiating from her mouth and nose. When it finally, finally stopped (because everything does in the end), the mist lingered around Nudge like an enchantment from Hell.

Everyone stayed frozen for ages, terrified to twitch even a muscle and disturb the strange substance.

Of course, Max thought with disgust, it was Total that would give in to his primal urges. He broke rank, trotted up to Nudge quick as you like, and sniffed the mist. His adventure ended with a whisper of gold flying up his nose, causing him to cough and sneeze. "It tastes like burnt candy," he whined.

Max swatted at him in response, feeling her blood pressure rise. She was far too young to die from a heart attack, but it seemed like an imminent possibility. "Get away from that; what if you start seizing next?"

"My superior senses tell me that this is not the source of Nudge's ailment. It may be internal."

Iggy sighed deeply, brow furrowed and fingers twitching. "I repeat, what happened? I might be able to feel if she has anything internal, but I need to know what happened."

"Sorry Ig," Gazzy muttered abashedly. "There's this golden stuff coming out of her mouth. It's sparkly like glitter. I think at least four tons of it came out of her all at once. It's still hanging around, almost like it's attached to her by invisible strings. She seems to be sleeping now, though."

"Total sniffed it and didn't die, right? I need a closer look to make sure she's stabilized."

Gazzy grimly grabbed hold of Iggy's hand and led him over to Nudge before Max could get a word in edgewise. Both her arteries burst when Gazzy passed Iggy's hand through the mist and planted it firmly on her arm.

"It's cool, almost slimy!" the exclamation was followed by a quick, "It isn't her soul, right? Max?"

Everyone's lack of awareness of the seriousness of the situation was about to give Max a coronary.

"NO! What did I just say? Am I speaking French? Swahili? Get away from that!"

But, typically, Iggy ignored her. He was obviously going to do what he came there for, no matter how badly Max kicked the snot out of him afterwards. He lightly passed his hands over Nudge, double checking for injuries. As he returned to her head, probing for any hairline fractures, Iggy found the cool, slimy substance wrapping gently around him.

It seemed light and playful, fluttering around his body in complex motions that made him laugh with delight. At some level, he understood that he should not be feeling delighted or happy. Nudge was _injured. _But he couldn't help the airy feeling welling up inside of him.

Max's hair stood on end as she watched the mist coil tighter and tighter around Iggy. The mist almost seemed to have a sort of… intelligence. Nope, that was it. Iggy had checked Nudge over thoroughly enough and it was time to put this insanity to a quick end. She marched up to Iggy, but found herself at a loss. How did she pull him from the mist without antagonizing it? It was almost completely around him now.

"What _is_ this?" Iggy's voice was full of wonder. Max tensed further, knowing that wonder was just as dangerous as any Flyboy or Whitecoat. "Golden and glittery; like she has been set free, but…" and here, his voice stuttered, confirming Max's assumption, "scared… so scared… nothing is as it should be… where's Mama…"

He flailed his arms away from the mist, giving Max a point to latch on to and pull with all her might. Man, this kid needed to gain some weight. He was almost as light as Nudge!

Iggy sank to the ground, trying to cower from the color and emotion clinging to his mind like a second skin. His fingers brushed the wet but hard grass, and then sank into muddy earth. A place that received little by way of rain, although recently enough water had come through to fill a few lakes. Somewhere South, but how far South? Far enough to be free of the School and the Institute? Far enough to be free of whatever plagued Nudge?

Gazzy groaned, protesting the triple check that Max was now doing on him. Iggy cracked a weak smile. "What are you grinning about? You're next!"

As she examined Iggy, he explained how Nudge didn't have any injuries at all. Max remembered the scrapes and bruises Nudge had acquired, but, somehow, they'd magically faded. No internal or external damage.

What had the scientists done this time?

As she stood up, glancing at the accursed mist, Max noticed that Fang, her right hand man and the most impassive person on their squad, had finally cracked. He had murder in his onyx eyes as he strode up to Nudge and the mist.

Max tried to draw everyone's attention away, but it was hard to ignore when Fang extended his wings and began to beat them as hard as he could. A cloud of dust and dead grass mixed with the golden mist, going up, up, up until it finally winked out of existence. A sliver of pride wriggled its way into Max's heart.

"Yeah, that's right!" Gazzy hollered. "You better run!"

Even with the mist gone, they still had the problem of the prone girl before them. Nudge looked so wrong laying so still.

Max just wanted her Nudge Channel back. If the kid ever woke up, Max swore she'd never get aggravated when Nudge went on a dozen tangents about hair and makeup and whatever it was that she was obsessed with at the time. She'd listen with rapt adoration, if only she came back to them.

Maybe they should get her to a hospital, especially because her condition seemed to be improving, but what would they tell the staff? Physically, there wasn't anything wrong with her. And, what about the rest of the Flock? Look what happened when Fang was injured. They had gone to a hospital and Anne came out of the woodworks quicker than a… well she didn't really know what. But she did know that Anne had nearly killed them all.

Max grabbed her head, suppressing the urge to scream.

"There appears to be nothing wrong with her physically." Fang's even voice covered Max's mental breakdown easily. "Did anyone see what happened?" he looked at the wide eyes of their family one at a time.

When his eyes fell on Angel, she held out a bronze chain snapped clean in half. At its base hung a shattered charm, shards of the remaining emerald glass sparkling against the bent casing. Max felt her gut churn, although with anger or nausea she couldn't tell. It was the necklace Jeb had given Nudge for her last birthday. A token from parents that might never have existed.

Nudge had insisted on keeping it even after they discovered the tracker in Max's arm. It might have been the only thing Nudge ever had of her parents, but Max was ready to toss it to the ocean. It had taken everything Fang had to convince her that it wasn't worth the fall out. Honestly, nothing short of a nuclear explosion would have made Nudge part with the jewelry. Or, Max guessed, nothing short a pack of Flyboys.

"I saw the Flyboys grab ahold of it. She went down quickly after, but I didn't really see what happened. All I saw was the necklace falling, and it was always super important to her, so I grabbed it when you grabbed her."

Fang listened intently, waiting until Angel finished explaining before bending to check on Nudge. "Thank you, Angel. The good news is she seems to be stabilizing. Nudge just needs to rest."

He spoke with such confidence that Max wouldn't have guessed he was freaking out even more than she was. That was, if she hadn't caught the slight tremor in his hands as he brushed Nudge's bushy hair from her forehead. "The effects should wear off in the next few hours. For the time being, we should find a more secure place, make camp, and monitor her condition."

The rest of the Flock stared at Fang as if he had grown two heads. That was at least two months' worth of words spoken within thirty seconds. The world really was ending.

Even though no one disagreed with his assessment, Gazzy, Iggy, Total, and Angel turned to Max for confirmation.

"Okay everyone," Max stood and spoke almost robotically, corroborating Fang's statement. Her lip was stiff, but she was the leader. She had to act like it. "Up and Away."

**Doctor POV**

The TARDIS was a finicky machine, fickle in almost every single way. She never took him where he wanted to go, and now, it seemed, not even where he needed to go. He stared at the doors dubiously, almost unwilling to leave the console. He was halfway convinced that she was going to take off without him if he walked out that door.

This was attempt 1,226. It had taken several hundred attempts before he had zoomed in on the location that the signal had come from, but it had taken almost a thousand more to convince the TARDIS to actually land there. Needless to say, she was currently in a right awful mood that could rival his own.

"Are you sure?" he asked for the hundredth time. She mentally reared in response, like an enraged horse. Something about this whole thing was rubbing her the wrong way. "You promise you're not going to leave me then?"

Something akin to a snort of derision and a little electrical spark from the console had him running for his coat.

"Thanks Old Girl!" he called as he burst through the doors. Carefully locking the TARDIS (just in case he was right and there was a rogue on the loose masquerading as a child), he patted her and promised, which was not a thing he did often, "I'll be back soon!"

**The next chapter will get into the story proper. This is just what got me thinking about it overall. Hugs!**


	3. Chapter 3: Disney and the Alien(s)

**Now we're on to the next phase. Nudge will never be the same.**

Nudge POV

She felt… _weird_. Her body, the thing she had inhabited for over twelve years, wasn't right. If only she could explain, but every time she tried, the words just wouldn't come. It wasn't '98%-human-2%-avian-weird'. That was actually pretty normal most of the time (although she wished desperately it wasn't).

It wasn't 'the-scientists-have-screwed-with-her-biology' weird either- or, at least, she was pretty sure it wasn't. The weird thudding in her chest (as if her heart was beating double time) felt _natural_. The odd ringing in her ears (almost like singing) wasn't nearly as bad as it seemed.

If she really thought about it, she felt like she'd been allowed outside of her cage for the first time. Somehow, everything inside her had been stored away for years and years, and now these new pieces were beginning to stretch out and remember their functions (even though she didn't get how something that had never been inside of her could _remember_ how to function).

Wouldn't that be learning to function instead?

Regardless, whatever it was completely screwed up her brain chemistry along with her physical body. Mentally, she felt downright wonky_. _Like, she was in Disneyworld for crying out loud! The other Nudge would be jumping around, trying to talk to the characters, squee-ing in pure delight when she saw Peter Pan, TTinkerbell, and Wendy (because in the stories they could fly, too and at least there were some people who could be a little like her). But all she managed was a halfway attempt at a grin and wave at the actress with the cute cotton-ball slippers.

Nudge knew that if this kept up Max was going to explode from worry. Their fearless leader was practically vibrating with the emotion, a bitter tang of sweat and bile. All of the Flock was, really, although maybe their smells were a little different- but not necessarily in a good way.

The universal manifestation of the Flock's worry was silence. None of them spoke a word, instead startling every time Nudge acted as if she were about to speak. It was obvious that they missed the other Nudge. Shoot, _she_ missed the other Nudge. It was so much harder to go about her day with nervousness zinging through her arms and legs and stomach. Her tongue felt fuzzy in her mouth. She knew she'd never be able to formulate a sentence without stumbling over every word.

And darn it. _This wasn't her…_ Right?

Nudge wasn't sure which was worse, the truth or the lie. She was trying to pretend to be other Nudge, but…

_It physically hurt._ When Nudge tried to channel her inner Nudge-ness and screamed happily at the sight of Princess Tiana in her glittering, jaded splendor, Nudge's skull nearly broke in half. Yelling = bad. She'd only just woken up from a coma after all. Maybe this was just remnants of that sickness?

But Nudge felt at a loss staring at the beautiful princess. No matter how badly her head hurt, the other Nudge would have run up to the cos-player and talked her head off until Max finally hauled them all away.

She tried to convince herself that she should try and chatterbox her way into the princess' heart. The fluttery churning in her gut wouldn't let her approach the girl. She'd probably be sick and ruin the glittering skirts. They were so _beautiful_.

Even though she didn't want to necessarily approach Tiana, Nudge couldn't look away from the infinitely complex designs of the jade dress. The hints of avocado, olive, and tiny bits of obsidian made the angles and light dance so prettily. Suddenly, the wind wafted their way and Nudge practically ran to escape the princess. Combined, the colors and fabric tasted a little too much like acid and chlorine. It was all she could do not to hurl then and there.

That was the problem with her body. It noticed too much, felt too much. Her senses were amplified a billion times over and she didn't know how to turn. them. off. Maybe the other her could have, but this Nudge honestly couldn't enjoy anything like this. Not even Disneyworld.

Disneyworld.

She had thought it would be better here somehow, spread out from the Flock in a larger space. When she'd woken up, she hadn't been able to think for all the sounds, sights, and smells emanating from her family. On top of that was the mind-shattering telepathy that Angel had taken to using so Nudge wouldn't know they were all talking about her.

In short, she needed to escape, if only for a while.

So, when Max said they were in Florida, close to Orlando, Nudge immediately said Disneyworld. It wasn't a surprise. It had been on her bucket list ever since they'd escaped the School with Jeb. Everyone rolled their eyes because _of course _Nudge wanted to go to Disney after being in a coma for three days.

They wouldn't have said yes if they'd known her new, post-coma motivations for going to the amusement park. They definitely wouldn't have said yes if they'd known how strange Nudge would act when they got there.

But, she had hoped, prayed that the park would be big enough to get away from her family (only for a few hours), get her senses under control, and then return to the way things used to be. Because that was all she wanted. She just wanted to go back to her usual, bubbly two percent avian self. Well, maybe minus the two percent avian. But she would take what she could get. Anything resembling normalcy was better than whatever was going on inside her currently.

Except, she hadn't considered that Disneyworld would be chock full of _other_ people. If her six family members were bad, this was altogether off the charts.

_I asked for this. _She tried to form a more genuine smile, although maybe there was just a little too much cheer to be natural. Max's concern was even more evident as she chewed her lip and stared at Nudge with her soft chocolate eyes. Thankfully, if there was one thing Nudge knew about Max, it was that she was too scared to push. All of her thoughts were jumbled, uncertain. She didn't have the capacity to snark, as strange and out-of-character as that was.

_Is she okay? _Max's thought- sent as forcefully as it was- rattled in Nudge's head like a box of keys, each one bouncing off her all-too-tender brain. She wondered if her grey, squishy matter was bleeding yet. Did grey squishy matter bleed? Was it red? Grey? A clear soup of thoughts and emotions? Or-

_I don't know. It's like she's still on a completely different frequency; we're AM and she's FM or something. All I hear is static and glass breaking and screaming all at once. I don't know. I'm scared._

It was Angel's reply that made Nudge snap. The force the little girl used to broadcast the thought to Max was like a freaking rhinoceros in a china shop, sending Nudge tilting completely off balance. She laughed, high pitched and sharp, when Iggy caught her elbow just in time.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little clumsy, like always," she waved off their concern. Although she was pushing her believability. Nudge being clumsy? That was like saying Fang loved talking. She corrected her mistake with a breathy giggle, pointing at the first actress she saw- was it that new Disney character from the ice movie?- and her swaying skirts. "Can I go sit down for a little bit? I want to watch her dance. She's like so gorgeous. I wish I could be up there with her!"

An air-headed, bald-faced lie, but somehow it held. They didn't so much as flinch at her request. Maybe because it was the most Nudge thing she'd said all day.

"Sure, let's go over there," Max began to lead the way. Nudge almost screamed from frustration. She just wanted to be alone, away from everything, but especially the mind chatter that they were unknowingly pushing around. At least 100% non-avian people couldn't psychically talk among themselves. She'd come back in ten minutes, but the Flock really needed to give her space before she mentally combusted and went into a forever coma.

"I know that you all wanted to see Disneyworld. Go on and explore without me. I'll be fine," Nudge tried to play her cards right, but she knew the deck was stacked against her. They were all too worried to enjoy themselves, and her telling them not to worry wouldn't help matters any.

Max shook her head, but then seemed to reconsider when Angel batted her big, blue eyes. Nudge hoped Angel had figured out that she needed to be alone. Just for a moment. That was all- only a moment.

Max exhaled sharply, gesturing to Fang. "Go ahead and take them around the park. I'll stay with Nudge."

"I want to stay too." Iggy suddenly spoke up. Nudge wasn't surprised, though she wished he hadn't said anything. "I _hate _crowds," he muttered as he put a hand on her shoulder to make sure he didn't lose them in the crowd.

Nudge nearly cursed. Now would be the time that Max and Iggy would both try to back her into a corner. She wouldn't be able to handle it, not with her fragile mentality. She would have to execute a guilt trip then sneak off. That's all there was to it.

Gazzy asked, "Are you sure you want us to leave you all? Is it safe? I don't want to be left behind again!"

Nudge breathed through her nose, but Max jumped in to remedy the situation. "Nudge doesn't feel good. Stop trying to be a chauvinistic pig. We will meet back up; no one is leaving anyone. We won't leave this park without everyone in the Flock. Angel will be able to find us, won't you sweetie?"

The girl in question bit her lip, but nodded earnestly.

When the rest of the Flock left, Nudge turned to Max. Her Bambi eyes rounded with child-like cuteness as she asked in her sweetest, gentlest voice, "Will you get me some water? I'm feeling a little dizzy after all."

Their fearless leader frowned, "Iggy, you make sure she's okay. I'll grab some water." And Max was gone. Nudge almost felt guilty because she didn't suspect her, not at all.

But she needed this.

As soon as Max had gone, she slipped Iggy's hand from her shoulder and took off like a shot. She didn't know where she was going, just far away from the Max, Iggy, and the ice princess.

Iggy didn't have time to grab her. He called out frantically for Nudge to come back.

She didn't. She only stopped when she was sure she'd put enough distance between herself and the Flock. Nudge kept going until she found a space in the park that was more or less empty. That came about in an area that was set a part from the attractions. There was a restroom sign and a few game stalls- nothing to attract the hordes.

In her own blessed bubble of relative silence, Nudge sank down on a bench, closed her eyes, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Not ten seconds later, an annoying buzzing noise broke the peace.

Nudge cracked an eye open, glaring at a man with floppy hair and a toy wand. "Excuse me, I'm trying to relax," she grumbled before nuzzling her head into her palms. If she didn't look, maybe he'd disappear.

The buzzing continued, followed by a murmured curse. She opened her eyes fully and felt the immediate assault of information to her senses.

"Where'd your parents pop off to?" he asked distractedly and then, as an afterthought, when he finally looked at her instead of his toy wand, "Headache?"

Nudge glared at him, finding herself incapable of much more. His presence made her senses go a hundred different directions.

He tasted like aged rust; the sea's tears, autumn fires, and spring's gentle hope. It was like he was a three hundred year old embryo bursting at the seams, excited to finally arrive, unaware that he was about to be delivered into a cold, heartless world. But he didn't smell like an embryo, one just about to be born. He smelt like a corpse, lifeless. He was death mixed with salt and bananas and maybe a touch of roses.

"I get those sometimes. A good cuppa does wonders. You should get one, if they sell that here. I think I landed in one of the Americas, maybe Florida? Very touchy, my machine. Didn't want to go anywhere near this spot. By the way, have you seen anything odd about?"

Her headache intensified as alarm bells rang in the back of her head. Was he with the School or the Institute? Was it possible that he… knew?

"I don't feel well. I should find my mom," she moved to stand. She had to get away from him- now.

A hand like steel clapped down on her shoulder, but it was his voice that immobilized her, taking her back to places she never _ever_ wanted to go again. Stern, patronizing, the promise of punishment if disobeyed, but the words, the words weren't exactly what she expected.

"Don't move a muscle."

Nudge was ready to flip him on his backside and take off for the sky, but the overpowering taste of iron brought her up short. It was enough to make her gag, nearly spewing the meager breakfast she'd had all over the sidewalk.

Ignoring his warning (because when did anyone from the Flock ever listen to authority?), Nudge slowly looked up at the monstrosity standing before them. It was almost like a three-year-old's drawing come to life: three hooved legs; a long, distorted purple body; five arms shaded several different colors with various amounts of fingers; two and a half eyes of various shapes; patches of patterned fur in random places; and a very crooked pig's snout. The snout opened to let out a huge bellow, revealing a conglomeration of teeth, some far too wickedly sharp for my comfort.

"Ah, I told you not to move," the man growled.

The beast pawed the ground, as if preparing to charge. Everyone in the crowd turned to it. Like the idiots they were, they began taking pictures, selfies, and videos. Was it an attraction? Was she being hoaxed?

When the man pushed her out of the way right before the beast charged, she realized that was not the case. The wind its heavy, clumsy body produced was far too strong to be anything but real.

"I'd suggest we RUN!" the man shouted.

She agreed with his suggestion, but had a moment's hesitation. She could either choose to run after the mad man in the long brown coat, (and how tempting that sounded. His mind was already spinning a thousand different directions, directing plans on how to stop the beast. Nudge didn't know how, but she could _feel_ the energy all of his ideas were creating) or she could do an up and away, find her family, and leave this entire mess behind.

If it had been Max, the answer would have been simple. The creature was obviously a part of the School, a creation gone horribly wrong. She should just find the Flock and get the heck out of Dodge. It was Max's job to keep them safe. The world would be fine; they had been before six bird kids and a flying dog and they would be fine long after those same kids and their flying dog.

But what about the people, crowding through the park like cattle for the slaughter? She could see it, follow strange lines to the horrendous deaths that would coincide with her flight. How many casualties were acceptable?

She wasn't Max, couldn't ever be Max. So she made her choice and her life would never be the same thereafter.

**Dun dun dun. Here comes the beginning of a new world. Is Nudge ready to face it? We'll have to wait and see.**


	4. Chapter 4: Run Nudge Run

**I would like to thank everyone who has liked and favorited my story. I know comments and likes are not the end all be all, but if it's bad I'd like comments just to correct the errors and have a better, more cohesive plot. I know that at least a few people have looked at my story, and I thank you all for your time. The characters might be a little (okay, a lot) OCC, but I like exploring how much your experiences create who you are. And my memory isn't so great when it comes to the Max Ride characters because (showing my age here) I read them about ten years ago. Well, that's all for my rant. On with the story.**

**Chapter 4**

**Nudge's POV**

"What is that thing?" she yelled as she caught up with the odd man. He was fast- almost inhumanely fast. Maybe he ran track for the Olympics. Or maybe, more probably, he was from a hellish version of the School they'd yet to meet.

No, no, definitely not.

Hopefully not.

He was too thin and wiry to be an Eraser. The transformation would tear him to pieces.

And he'd have tried to subdue her by now, especially if that creature and himself were in cahoots.

The man glanced at Nudge, large eyes almost popping out of his head as his face stretched into a nearly manic grin. There was also the chance that he was just insane.

Ugh. Her head throbbed, forcing her to put the debate to rest, if only for a moment.

First thing first, they had to stop the creature from hurting anyone else. Then she'd interrogate him and determine where his loyalties lay.

"It's a Torsix from Tendril five. Or, at least I think it is- might've branched off at some point- Never mind that. Can never be too sure. They're only legend where I come from! Supposed to have gone extinct during the first wars."

A huge bubbling rush filled her chest before her notorious word vomit made itself known. "What is Tendril five? Is it like the School? What part of it is a legend? Is it just an animal? Isitapersontoo?Whichwardiditgoextinctin? It's called a Torsix, right? _Why_ call it that? …"

He finally cut in, shushing her mindless jabber. "It's a creature that creates itself! It wants one of us- probably me- and it's my job to make sure that doesn't happen."

She opened her mouth to ask something else, but the loud clomping of the Torsix's uneven gait made her jaw click shut. It was gaining speed in spite of its three legs. They must've been hard to coordinate, but somehow the Torsix managed an ungodly pace that might- no, _would_\- eventually overtake her own.

She forced herself to run even faster, feeling her lungs strain against her chest. Flashbacks from the School threatened to overwhelm her, but she shoved them away violently. This was _so_ not good. This thing was going to kill them and use their bodies as decoration!

Nudge couldn't help but finally voice her increasingly dark thoughts. "So when you say that it wants us, do you mean it wants to kill and dismember us?"

"If we're lucky."

And didn't she know about _that. _

There was something strange and fluttery in her chest. It felt like that time when she punched Iggy in the nose for using her favorite skirt to make that stupid Mickey Mouse clock bomb. She didn't know who would kill him first that day: her or Max.

_Never again_, the feeling said. Never again would that creature hurt anyone else. Not if she could help it.

"How do we stop it?"

Instead of answering like a perfectly normal person, the man grabbed hold of her arm and used it as an anchor to vault the both of them into an alley behind one of the shops. She barely felt the tingling sensation through her jean jacket and, really, it was nothing compared to the adrenaline pulsing through her veins. Fortunately, three legs are hard to stop, and the beast surpassed the alleyway by a good thirty feet, tumbling over itself in a mass of awkward limbs.

Unfortunately, two legs are just as easy to stop when there is something in the way. The odd man and the winged girl crashed into that something; it happened to be cursing quite profanely about the indecency of jabber-mouths.

"Nudge? We've been looking ever-"

"Iggy! Not now!"

He tried to argue, but the man shut that down quickly. "Want to live? Keep running!"

Without any other explanation, he grabbed Nudge's hand to pull her back into a run. Her brain felt like it fried when he touched her- and how badly she wanted to scream at that- but the static of grabbing Iggy's hand as she pulled him after her was far worse.

"What are we running from?" Iggy hollered as they all fell into beat side by side, emerging from the alley into a group of oblivious tourists.

"Not now, Ig," Nudge hushed him. People gaped at the running trio. Nudge paused only long enough to holler, "Bomb threat! Evacuate immediately!"

It took the sheep a few gasping moments before they actually put their brains into action and became a screaming mob. Maybe not the best move, but at least they weren't sitting ducks. Now they were more like headless chickens.

"What are we going to do now?" Nudge asked miserably.

The man, for his part, seemed unperturbed by the screaming masses. "Good question, but not the right one! I need a… a thingy. Allons-y!"

Before she could register what he was doing, he'd grabbed her by the arm once again and slung her back into motion.

She moved on autopilot because Nudge was _used_ to this. She was used to running away from things trying to kill her- or else kidnap her.

But running from the Torsix was _different_.

It wasn't just the feeling burning in her chest- although that was very odd. Usually she would just want to get her family away from the whole ordeal, alive and intact. She'd be angry, yes, but also scared to the marrow of her bones. She'd be worrying about the School capturing any of them- all of them- or… worse.

But her brain was too busy to worry about something that wasn't going to happen- mainly because the beast wouldn't go after the Flock. Not even Iggy who was running right beside her. Well, not exactly beside her. Behind her a few inches. He'd take flight before it could ever catch up to him. There wasn't a single scenario where that _thing _hurt him.

And how she knew that was anyone's guess. Nudge _knew _it would be logical to assume that it would tear into the Flock immediately after finishing with her, but her brain, oh _her brain_, told her differently.

It told her many things, actually. Things she didn't understand how it knew, and often couldn't really make sense of in the first place. Like, for example, how fast the creature would pick up speed after it righted itself and renewed its pursuit with beating hooves and slapping hands. Well, she didn't know in any discernible measure like kilometers or miles per hour, but she _knew_ it would be going faster than her and the man. She _knew_ it would be on them just as they made it past the blue box not fifty feet ahead. This wasn't a guess, nor even a quick estimation. It was just… fact.

Just like the thirty different ways the creature could kill the man beside her was fact. Her racing mind threw at least half a million scenarios for how she would die, and then even more for how she could possibly live while being _inside _the creature. She knew out of all the possibilities dancing in her head, there were only about twenty that included either of them getting out alive and only five with both of them surviving. And, those odds, somehow, impossibly, centered on the tiny blue box.

Nudge already knew a U-and-A wouldn't work if she separated from the man. The Torsix would grab her leg and rip her wings to ribbons while the man slipped safely into the box.

And, even if she didn't separate from the man and managed to escape via U and A, Nudge couldn't just up and leave him like that. He'd be dismantled horrendously because, instead of running, he would take the time to gape at her _wings_.

Max would tell Nudge it didn't matter. Nudge could hear her voice, explaining how he was probably an experiment sent to kidnap the lot of them. If he died, he died. Nothing less than he deserved for trying to hurt the Flock.

But, a part of her- that new part that she definitely didn't understand- knew he didn't mean any harm, and that life would be much more difficult without him.

Internally, Nudge rebelled against that because such blind confidence brought too many other emotions to the forefront. Like trust. Trusting him was not a good idea. The Flock _always_ trusted the wrong people, and it _always_ ended up biting them in the butt.

"Hurry up! He's gaining!" the man yanked on her arm yet again, pulling her right up against the blue box. If she weren't so determined to live, she would have sent him tumbling because that _hurt. _

Instead, she slammed her palms frantically against the wood, hard enough to feel the hit shudder all the way through her, begging it to open. The wood was much harder than she'd thought, but her new _knowledge_ had to be wrong. That thing would rip through this little shelter.

She heard Iggy bang into the box and then swerve around it, yelling at Nudge to do a U and A. He must have thought Nudge was ahead of him. She imagined it would be hard for him to tell with everyone else running about. Hard to get in the air too. No clearance. But he'd be fine. He had to be fine.

In fact, this whole box thing seemed pretty stupid. Instincts be darned, she needed to get the heck out of Dodge. What did she care about the weirdo with a toy wand? He wasn't worth her life. She took a deep breath, preparing to dart around the box because _it wasn't opening and they were going to die,_ when the door suddenly gave out.

She would have sworn that she felt the hot breath of the beast brush the nape of her neck precisely at that moment. By a stroke of luck (or, rather, misfortune), the doors slammed closed, sealing the creature outside. Unfortunately, Nudge wasn't present enough to register this. She'd fallen face first onto the metal floor. In any other situation, that wouldn't have been enough to put her down. But she had just woken up from a coma. And so she succumbed to the abyss.

**So, here's more of my jumbled ramblings. I never thought Nudge got enough time in the books because she was so interesting as a character. And then Patterson ruined everything with the fourth book. Honestly, I will only ever think of the first three books as cannon. And the poor-excuse for a movie doesn't count either. I feel like everything I love has been ruined because authors and screenwriters don't know how to quit while they're ahead. Anyone else agree?**


End file.
